1000 for 2000: Predictions for the New Millennium

I love this book. John Hogue really knows how to mess with your feelings about life, spirituality, and humanity in general. Excellent book; I've read it twelve times and now the librarians are beginning to know me by name.

If one glances on the grand visionary prophecies, the single trait becomes visible: they all, whether the author is known to the general public or not, speak about the beginning and the end of human destiny. What shall we deduce from that ? First, just a brief digression: it has always been something of a puzzle (at least for me) that Islam (save a few Koranic ayets) or Chinese tradition don't pay much attention to deciphering the end time. Of course, some, like Chinese or Japanese or, to some degree, Hindus, do not look at these things as symbols of compressed human condition. For them, the show goes on & on...forever. Why- they are too polite to ask. Or petrified....Never mind. So, let's cast a glance on Christian or Amerindian prophecies: they share the same "vision" of death & resurrection of the humanity. In short, they tell you: my friend, we're going to die, and, what's the best, to die in throes of moral & physical decadence (usually, wars & pollution go hand in hand to seal our destiny). Then, after some miraculous happenings (good ole Saoshyant, Messiah, whatever...appears on the scene), we will be transmogrified & divested of our infernal passions live happily ever after. We got death & rebirth & unspeakable post-resurrection life. When I consider these panoramic visions (not just tallying the events, like Nostradamus or Malachy), an agent-provocateur thought always strikes me as a lightning: why would this simplistic picture be accurate ? They speak of fulfillment of man's destiny in extremely fuzzy language. What about death ? Or other forms of life ? Or- why would the continuation of life in a body, that is, a restricted & "shackled in" existence be *the* happy end ? By the way: they also point to ancient "wisdom" teachings (ewww, I dislike this...). Summarily: if you stick to the cosmic law (call it tao, me, maat, logos,dharma... take your pick)- then you have Life. You are life in the greater tapestry of Life, which is the embodiment of the Law. Otherwise, if you err....well, my friend, you're doomed. There is something infantile in these narratives, at least for my taste.

John Hogue's catchily titled _1000 for 2000_ has compiled a thousand prophecies for the future -- some from other people both ancient (Nostradamus) and modern (Edgar Cayce) and many others from Hogue himself. The book has been trashed by some people because it freely enters predictions without any limits on the credibility or possibility of the predictions entered within. But why must an author censor himself . . . or other people for that matter? Hogue never tries to imply that he believes all of these will come true; rather, he is collecting the ideas of various prophets into a single book, so that the reader can look at all the thought that's out there on the subject of the future. Some of the prophecies listed are indeed unlikely, and others are very general and describe things that will inevitably happen and already have been happening (as #719: Baha'ullah's statement that "Soon the present-day order will be rolled up, and a new one spread out in its stead"). Especially amusing is that Hans Holzer "predicted" at #341 that "Important battles will take place in the Middle East. Europe will also be affected by war". The Middle East has had its most important wars in centuries lately, but hasn't Europe always been at war? There are others, though, that show a remarkable wisdom and foresight for their days and age. At prophecy #37, Cheiro described in 1931 a future of global warming. At #789, Mother Shipton, as far back at 1561, realized that the androgynization of dress was to come: "And now a word in uncouth rhyme / Of what shall be in future time: / For in these wondrous far-off days / The women shall adopt a craze / To dress like men and trousers wear / And cut off their locks of hair". Many other nearby quotes came from peole who were able to know that women's equality and liberation was going to be inevitable, in times when it was unthinkable to more mediocre, average minds. Interestingly, John Hogue himself stated as early as 1993 that "President Clinton will complete his final term, despite all attempts to unseat him" (prophecy #726). And just note the year the prophecy after that was made! Looking at the prophecies on pages 133 and 134 about which is the one true religion that "will rule the new Heaven and Earth" gives the reader an amusing and perceptive look at just how ethnocentric and personally biased prophecies can be. Various Jewish prophets have formulated the thesis that "Only the Jews are the 'Chosen People' and only their faith will survive the holocaust. Jerusalem will be the religious capital of the world", while the theory of Sikh prophets has congealed that "Only Sikhs will survive the holocaust. I guess Jerusalem will move to Amritsar, Punjab". Any intelligent reader could obviously draw a message from the juxtaposition of predictions in that section; it would help him to see that skepticism is needed when observing blindly based prophecies. Conversely, there are also several Catholics themselves who see that the end of

This is a very good book written by John Houge, very interesting predictions for the coming millenium and beyond. It keeps you wanting to read on, hard to put down.